How your driving record sets your car insurance price

What insurers see on your record

Your state motor vehicle agency keeps a record of your license: traffic convictions, the points some states attach to them, suspensions and revocations, and serious offenses such as driving under the influence. Insurers look at that record when you apply and when they review the policy. Oregon's Division of Financial Regulation, for example, says insurers there check records with Oregon DMV and with other states, so an old out-of-state ticket isn't invisible.

Accidents reach insurers two ways: through the state record when a crash leads to a citation, and through claims databases that list what insurers have paid. The second is covered in our page on claims history. What matters most for price is whether you were at fault, how recent the event is and how serious it was.

How a record moves the price

Each insurer files its own rating plan with the state, and that plan sets how much a given ticket or accident adds and for how long. The size of the increase is not published as a single number, and it differs from company to company. The direction, though, is the same everywhere: a clean record is rewarded, and recent incidents cost money.

California makes the link explicit. Under Proposition 103, your driving safety record is the first of three mandatory rating factors, ahead of miles driven and years of experience. The Department of Insurance's consumer guide adds that a driver licensed for at least three consecutive years with no more than one point is a Good Driver, every company must offer Good Driver coverage, and those rates must be at least 20% lower than the same company would charge a driver who doesn't qualify. See the California cost page for how that plays out in average prices.

How long tickets and accidents count

There is no national rule. Most of the time the look-back period is part of the insurer's filed rating plan, so ask the company you are quoting how far back it looks. A few states set the period, or a floor under it, in law or regulation:

• Oregon: the Division of Financial Regulation says premiums reflect your driving record for the past three years.
• Maryland: an insurer can't raise your rate over an accident or traffic violation more than three years old, and must offer a good-driver discount if you have had no moving violation carrying more than one point and no traffic accident in the past three years, with continuous coverage from that insurer.
• Georgia: the Commissioner's auto guide says that after three years with the same company, you can't be nonrenewed because of a single claim, even one you caused.

A record can also cost you a discount you would otherwise get by law. Pennsylvania's 55-and-over course discount can end after a chargeable accident, a moving violation conviction, or a DUI conviction or ARD, and Maine's mature-driver course discount isn't available after an at-fault accident, a moving violation or a suspension in the past three years.

SR-22 filings after a serious offense

After some offenses the state wants proof, filed by your insurer, that you carry at least the required liability coverage. That proof is usually called an SR-22. It is a certificate, not a separate policy, and the offense behind it is what drives the price. Examples from state motor vehicle agencies:

• New Hampshire may require an SR-22 after any DWI, after leaving the scene of an accident or after a second reckless operation offense; until it is filed, a license or registration can't be restored or kept.
• Virginia requires an SR-22 for three years to reinstate a license suspended for driving uninsured.
• Florida requires a driver filing an SR-22 under its Financial Responsibility Law to certify bodily injury and property damage liability, even though most Florida drivers don't have to carry bodily injury coverage.

If regular insurers won't sell you a policy with an SR-22, states run residual market plans for drivers who can't find coverage the ordinary way. Our guide to assigned-risk plans explains how to apply through an agent.

What you can do about it

1. 1 Get a copy of your record from your state motor vehicle agency and check it for convictions that aren't yours or that should have been dismissed.
2. 2 Ask about a course. Many states require insurers to discount premiums after an approved accident prevention course, though a recent violation can disqualify you; see course discounts.
3. 3 Know your dates. Write down when each ticket or accident happened. When one passes your insurer's look-back period, ask for a re-rate at renewal.
4. 4 Shop when a mark ages off, and again a year later. Insurers weigh the same record differently, so compare quotes line by line.
5. 5 Complain to your state insurance department if an insurer surcharges you for an incident older than your state allows or for one you didn't cause.

Questions drivers ask